When we have faith in God, we are completely confident He loves us unconditionally and will never stop loving us, we are boldly certain He loves us and will never stop loving us, and we have no doubt He loves us and will never stop loving us.

The thing is, faith is easy to have and maintain when things are going our way, but when things begin to go badly, our faith often begins to slip away. The world jumps out and says, “Boo!” and our first reaction is to scream and tremble.

Much like the disciples in the boat; when the storm began to rage and they were afraid, they turned to Jesus. Their faith was not as strong as it could’ve been, but itwasstrong enough to know where their rescue was.

We aren’t perfect, but when we encounter the storms of life, we can turn to Jesus with complete confidence, knowing with bold certainty, and without a doubt, He is with us and will see us through the storm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40

Bet you thought it would be a picture of me. Well, I don’t blame you. Why else would I use a duck for my Facebook profile picture?

But no, this pic is about cleaning house—downsizing—and how it’s made me wonder over and over, where’d we get all this stuff?

In the last few weeks, we’ve done some serious purging, getting rid of things we don’t use. Some of those things hadn’t been used in ten years! We have thrown out at least a pickup load of absolutely worthless things, and given away a couple of pickup loads to a local charity shop (The House of Hope). And we’re not finished! What is it that causes us cling to possessions like we do? With me it’s often the old “I might need that someday” syndrome.

One of the rooms we haven’t gotten to yet in this recent purging effort is the kitchen. As I reached for “my” coffee mug this morning ( I’ve had it and used it daily since 2007) I realized there were a lot of coffee cups in the cabinet. I counted them, and found we own thirty-two coffee cups!

Granted, when we have lots of people over—that happens maybe two or three times a year—we need at least six or so coffee cups. So, doing the math—naught, naught, carry the naught—we still have approximately two dozen extra coffee cups. Yep, any way you look at it, that’s one ugly mug shot right there!

I believe the way to have peace among believers is to allow each believer to receive and understand God’s instruction in his own way and in his own time. God deals with us on a personal basis. He doesn’t group us by category according to size, color, knowledge, or any of our differences or similarities. He looks at me and loves me just as I am. He looks at each of you and loves you just as you are. Each and every believer is loved by God. He doesn’t love some more than others, and He doesn’t stop loving any of us because we are different from the rest. Likewise, each of us learns and understands God at our own pace in our own time.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

I believe the thing God desires most is to be loved by us, and when we love Him and His love is shared with others through us, it gives Him great joy. It makes me think of those maps we see on cell phone commercials; you know, the ones with maps colored to show all the areas the provider’s service covers. I think God has a map of the world, and He wants to see every inhabited space colored with His love. And, each time another space is filled He celebrates because it means another believer is spreading His love. You would think the whole world would be covered by now, but sadly it isn’t. So:

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.Philippians 1:4

The other day, I was telling a teenager about how I often watched football with the sound off so as to avoid the constant spewing of drivel from the “expert” commentators. They were horrified. “So, you just sit there in total silence for three hours?” I answered her with silence.

When I was a kid, I used to love to watch baseball games on Saturday. Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese were a fun part of the show. Not as many cameras back then, so Pee Wee would tell us what happened, and Dizzy would make a joke about it, or say how we should use Burma Shave when we got old enough. They took Dizzy off the air because he used bad grammar and some teacher said he might teach kids the wrong way to talk. He’d fit right in today. I don’t watch baseball too much anymore, but tune in to a football game now and then. I’ve gotten to where I sometimes turn off the sound, so I can enjoy the game without all the “facts”.

There was no thunder this morning, but Ray Brown–the Harley in the back of his big ol’ truck–rolled out of our driveway and headed back to Oklahoma City. Just got a text that he made it safely home. The next chapter begins.

This poem is a tribute to my step-pa, Ray Brown, who is on his way to DC to take part in Rolling Thunder Inc.’s 25th anniversary of their Memorial Day Demonstration in Washington, D.C., May 25-27, 2012. Ray is an army veteran, and this is a once in a lifetime trip for him. May the Lord ride with him, providing good weather, safe passage, and a wonderful time with other riders and veterans on the road, and in our nation’s capital! Roll on, Ray Brown! You da man!